The stage is set at the Japan National Stadium in Tokyo as the world’s top athletes converge for the 2025 World Athletics Championships, running from September 13 to 21. For nine action-packed days, the Japanese capital becomes the epicenter of global track and field, with stars and rising talents alike vying for medals, personal bests, and, for some, a shot at history. With $8.5 million in prize money up for grabs, including a $100,000 world record bonus, the stakes couldn’t be higher. And with Tokyo’s infamous summer heat expected to push temperatures above 30°C, athletes will face not just their rivals, but the elements themselves.
British fans have plenty to cheer for. Great Britain’s squad boasts Olympic 800m champion Keely Hodgkinson, who made a remarkable comeback from injury just four weeks before the championships. Hodgkinson, who ran the fastest 800m time of the year in Silesia and followed it up with a win at the Lausanne Diamond League, is widely tipped as the gold medal favorite. She’s joined by training partner and Olympic 1500m bronze medallist Georgia Hunter Bell, who has shifted her focus to the 800m in pursuit of another global podium finish. Jemma Reekie completes a formidable British trio in the women’s 800m.
Britain’s medal hopes don’t stop there. Defending world champions Josh Kerr (men’s 1500m) and Katarina Johnson-Thompson (heptathlon) both return, joined by Matthew Hudson-Smith (men’s 400m), who’s eyeing gold after podium finishes at the last three global championships. The relay squads—fresh off delivering half of GB’s ten athletics medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics—are also primed for action. The women’s 4x100m team, led by Dina Asher-Smith, Daryll Neita, and Amy Hunt, aims to build on their Olympic silver, while world bronze medallist Zharnel Hughes doubles up in the men’s 100m and 200m, backed by world indoor 60m champion Jeremiah Azu.
Other British podium prospects include Amber Anning, who faces American hurdles sensation-turned-flat sprinter Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone in the women’s 400m, and Molly Caudery, who declared herself "so ready" for a world title bid in the pole vault. Max Burgin’s recent Diamond League performances put him in the mix for a men’s 800m medal, while marathon runner Emile Cairess and high jumper Morgan Lake—who recently cleared 2m for the first time—are both legitimate contenders. Don’t overlook British 5,000m record holder George Mills, seasoned middle-distance runner Laura Muir, and rising 400m star Charlie Dobson, all of whom could make a splash in Tokyo.
For Team GB, the momentum is real. Their ten-medal haul at the 2023 World Championships matched their best-ever, and their Paris 2024 performance marked their strongest Olympic return in four decades. With five relay teams in contention and a deep roster of individual hopefuls, expectations are sky-high for another impressive medal tally.
But the Championships are about more than just British glory. The world’s biggest names are ready to put on a show. American sprint superstar Noah Lyles targets a third consecutive global 100m gold, fresh off a razor-thin Olympic victory and aiming to defend all three of his world titles. He’ll face stiff competition from compatriot Kenneth Bednarek, Jamaicans Kishane Thompson and Oblique Seville, and Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo. On the women’s side, St Lucia’s Julien Alfred, who made history with her nation’s first Olympic medal in Paris, chases a sprint double, while Jamaica’s ten-time world champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce eyes a storybook finish to her career.
Field events promise their own drama. Swedish pole vault phenomenon Armand Duplantis, who broke the world record for a 13th time in August, is the overwhelming favorite for a fifth consecutive global title—and perhaps a first-ever clearance above 6.30m, which would net him that lucrative world record bonus. Kenyan distance legend Faith Kipyegon looks for her fifth straight global 1500m gold, while Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen, hampered by injury but hungry for redemption, seeks the elusive 1500m crown after being denied by British rivals in recent years. Belgian heptathlete Nafi Thiam and Britain’s Johnson-Thompson renew their rivalry, with both chasing another world title.
Trinidad and Tobago’s hopes rest on a compact but talented four-member squad. Olympic javelin champion Keshorn Walcott leads the charge, coming off a third-place finish at the Diamond League Finals in Zurich and having surpassed the World Championships qualifying standard multiple times this season. Walcott eyes his first World Senior Outdoor title, but will have to out-throw the likes of Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem, reigning world and Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra of India, and German Julian Weber, who owns the season’s longest mark at 91.51m. Two-time World Champion Anderson Peter of Grenada and NACAC title-holder Curtis Thompson of the USA are also in the mix.
Jereem "The Dream" Richards, the 2022 World Indoor 400m champion, looks to improve on his agonizing fourth-place finish at the Paris Olympics, where his national record of 43.78 seconds left him just 0.04 seconds off the podium. Leah Bertrand, with personal bests of 10.92s and 22.54s in the sprints, comes to Tokyo as a three-time national 100m champion. Tyra Gittens-Spotsville, the national record-holder, qualified for the long jump based on world ranking, having notched a best of 6.73m this year. The quartet, supported by coaches Keston Bellman and Eric Claus, manager Dexter Voisin, and medical staff Alban Merepeza, will try to deliver Trinidad and Tobago’s first World Championships medal since 2017.
Yet not all the news is celebratory. South Africa’s Bayanda Walaza, a double World U20 champion and one of the continent’s brightest young sprint talents, will miss the Championships after failing to recover from a hamstring injury sustained at the Diamond League Final in Zurich. Athletics South Africa confirmed on September 10 that Walaza’s absence is "in the best interest of the athlete and the integrity of the national team." He was slated for both the 100m and 4x100m relay, and will be replaced by Retshidisitswe Mlenga. Walaza’s meteoric rise included helping South Africa to 4x100m relay silver at the Paris 2024 Olympics and a sprint double at the World U20 Championships in Lima. His absence leaves a void, but also an opportunity for new stars to emerge.
Tokyo’s time zone means UK fans will need to adjust their schedules, with morning sessions airing overnight and evening sessions running from early morning to early afternoon. BBC will provide comprehensive coverage across TV, radio, and digital platforms, ensuring fans won’t miss a moment of the action. With the world’s best athletes ready to chase glory in the heart of Japan—and the heat promising to add an unpredictable twist—the 2025 World Athletics Championships are shaping up to be a spectacle for the ages. The countdown is on, and the world is watching as the drama unfolds in Tokyo.
